Firstness, during the course of losing most of my weight (the first 170 lbs or so) I would definitely lose it in "fits" (what you guys call a "woosh"). It became quite predictable: I would basically hover around a certain weight +/- 0.2-0.6 lbs for a few days or more then BAM, 2-4 lbs gone overnight.

Now I'm at 210-ish and the change in fat is much more visible. I have an extremely strange fat distribution (best described as "leftovers" ) and I can usually see one lb gained or lost before I weigh myself, especially when observing a couple key places.

That being said, I've also noticed this change in "composition" of the weight. The "fat" seems to get softer and and the sensation felt in the part being touched is also different. More sensitive, I think.

The water "exchange" thing makes a lot of sense (or at least provides a good visual for the internal workings of these changes). I'll try and mess with my sodium and water intakes (and ratios?) to see if I can give you anything useful. I wish I had read this earlier, since I would have been able to provide a better anecdote had I changed these variables when I was losing most of the weight.

Could the mechanism have something to do with the fact that as triglycerides are broken down into glycerol and FFA the hydrolysis reaction produces water? This would mean three molecules of water per triglyceride. Water could then be retained in the fat cells until the water levels reached some threshold at which point a woosh would be triggered. I mean I'm just hypothesizing here, but does this sound reasonable?

Even at a higher weight I have noticed this...first week on Vdiet...the visual changes were very noticeable...the second week it was almost like my body reverted back to the way it looked when I started the diet....it looked like I had gained all the weight back even though my diet was the same....my stomach looked kinda big and flat and soft as opposed to being more of a firmer fat feel....

Ironic as it is...I said screw it and had a cheat day...the next day I was dramatically leaner looking...it was a shock...Now that I can explain this ill make note of my bodyweight changes during this period next time...

I wonder if this is a mechanism that is similar to how the body works with Leptin and having to do with starvation/famine signals.....IE...when you lose fat the body shuttles water into the fat cells to hydrate them just in case its likely that you are indeed starving....and what typically goes along with starvation or famine? A lack of water....

So when the body senses famine the fat is burned and water replaces it and stores it for a period of time in anticipation of having a lack of water and dehydration which typically can go with famine.....storing water in fat cells kinda like a camel stores it in its humps....

This hypothesis would ALSO explain why it seems that when someone consumes alot of water and tells the body that water is plenty that the body flushes out the cells and you get the "woosh".....Also would explain it with food as well...you consume a refeed day and your body gets the signal that you are not in famine and that water and food are plenty and then sends the "woosh" of water it stored intercellularly in case you were gonna be in a situation where water was scarce....

Make sense to me....seems like it could be a similar mechanism to Leptin with the metabolism....

Unfortunatly the whole idea that your body "thinks" that you are starving, or that it "thinks" that there's gonna be lack of water is kind of misinterpretet. It's all about different mechanisms in the body, not about what it "thinks".
Of course your idea is possible. But I can make up five more evolutionary theories about it and they don't cost a dime if we don't discuss the mechanisms involved.

I mean your body gets the signal that water is not plentiful just like it gets the signal when your dieting that food is not plentiful and in turn slows down calorie consumption....If your body does it for food intake it would make sense that it could and would also do it for water intake or relate decreased food intake with the availability of water...

Think about it....how does a hibernating animal store enough water in its system to last the whole winter without water? Some of this would by muscle and liver glycogen I would imagine...but when an animal gets prepared for hibernation the main thing that increases when they gorge themselves is fat....

Not saying the first paragraph is correlated to the second....just thinking out loud...

Hey,Fat cell water content and fat loss is a nice information. I like it as you are also include basic in it.Low intensity walking is surprisingly effective in fat reduction as is hydro saturation. Cell absorbs high amount of water in these conditions.A carbload would release the water in the cell? The triglyceride were removed from the cell, that the fat cells refilled with water in the short-term, eventually the body dropped that water and the fat loss 'became evident' . I don't believe this situation occur in real life. Can anyone explain me the right reason and provide in formation regarding fat loss procedure in it.I am waiting for that golden information.

Thanks

Why do you come on this site to argue? You do nothing but argue with Lyle and his theories, yet you continue to post on HIS site. Either stay and stop trolling, or leave and troll elsewhere.

This exactly what I am seeing now. I have experienced huge spike in water weight overnight after the refeed with weight training (54-55% on Tanita as opposed to usual 50-51.5%. I know it's not accurate, but results have been quite consistent for 3 days.) I see now, that it is expected.
I wonder if anyone found a way to tweak the system and speed "whooshcoming" (other than drinking plenty of water), like playing with electrolite intake, working out in some special way or a magic pill perhaps?

I keep a meticulous database of all the foods I eat, workouts, how I'm feeling, moods, etc.

I had great success on RFL last year and lost about 25-30 lbs in about 6 weeks (category 3). Anyways, I have/had a problem with alcohol and binging. My 2 weekly free meals would usually turn into a night full of boozing and binging, yet I still made forward progress.

Anyway, I started another round of RFL on January 3rd combined with NO ALCOHOL and while I saw good progress on the scale at the start, my weight has plateaued for the past week.

I'm hoping to have a nice whoosh soon so I read this thread in hopes of getting some positive karma on my side. I decided to go back and look at my database and found it interesting that most times I drank too much on my "free meal" nights and binged, I would gain about a pound on my scale weight the next day or so, and then by the 3rd-4th day I would experience the whoosh and usually see a dramatic decrease of 4-6 pounds.

Now I'm tempted to drink a beer or two with each of my free meals and not booze/binge and see if I experience the same results.